NORTHERNN COLORADO'S

FIRST SETTLERS

BY ROY G. COFFIN

PREFACE Artifacts recording Folsom Man's occupation of the Lindenmeier Valley were found in 1924, two years before the discovery of the Folsom Site in New Mexico. The author of this booklet, the late Professor Roy G. Coffin, records the discovery and the early work done by the Coffin family prior to their invitation to Dr. F. H. H. Roberts, Jr., to bring in his Smithsonian group for full-scale exploration of the site. Ma jor Coffin, as he was known to his many friends, was a scientist who found endless challenge in the field; consequently he did not take time to publish his findings until 1937, after several other publications had appeared. The discovery of the Lindenmeier Site was no mere coincidence; Major Coffin and his brother, Judge Claude C., were assiduous students of the early inhabitants of northern Colorado and southern Wyoming and few if any potential sites escaped their painstaking investigation. In "Northern Colorado's First Settlers", the picture of the life and work of the Folsom people at this workshop reflects a depth of understanding which could have been developed only through many years of thoughtful and devoted study. This, in addition to the record of the discovery and early work, necessitates the re-publication of this worthy paper which has had but limited distribu­ tion. No less important, it will revive the memory of a man whose life was synonomous with services-to his students, neighbors, and friends. Since this paper was published, additional work has added signficantly to our knowledge of Folsom Man in northern Colorado. Notable are the works of Bryan and Ray (1941), additional reports by Roberts (1937, 1940, 1951), and Haynes and Agogino (1960) who obtained a radiocarbon date of 10,780= 375 years B. P. for the occupation of Lindenmeier Valley. These and other pertinent papers have been added to the bibliography. By D. V. Harris, Head Department of Geology, Colorado State Unioersit» CONTENTS Page Location ._ ------______3 Geological H istory . .. . 4 History of D iscovery __ 5 Identification ------______7 Descrip tion of "Poinr' ------______7 Exploration .- ._____ 8 Construction of "Poin t' 9 Source of Materials . 10 Origin of Artifacts 10 Record of Report .______II Development of Site 12 Use of "Poin t" 13 Art ___ __ 14 ,'Frugal Folsom" ---- -______15 Other Artifacts --- ,,____ 15 Antiquity ._ __ __ 16 A Speculation --______17 Conclusion -- . . .______18 Bibliography . 19

4. C~LORADO STATE COLLEGE

The road north from Fort Collins through the town of Waverly leads to the site. Geological History.-Several times during the Tertiary Period the river systems of the Rocky Mountains in Northern Colorado have been rejuvenated as a result of the repeated arching of the Front Range areas. 3 Each period of renewed activity of the streams built alluvial fans extending from the base of the mountains eastward over the plains. During the Oligocene Epoch considerable volcanic activity accompanied the warping of the mountain area and thus volcanic material, largely ash, was the principal sediment transported and deposited over a large portion of the western plains region. This material is, locally, often referred to as "chalk," "soap­ stone," etc. It is light yellow, almost white in color, and in addition to the clay materials.c-kaolin. bentonite, etc.,-it contains some lime and grains of glassy volcanic materials. Late in Tertiary times after this Oligocene mud terrace had been dissected by streams, it was covered by very coarse (arkosic) gravel derived from the granite highlands north and west. To this gravel was added resistant cherts, flints, and chalcedonies from the exposed outcrops of the Pennsylvanian limestones of the foothills. In some areas of Northern Colorado this upper gravel has been partly removed from the stream beds of earlier times. It is along one of these uncovered east-west valleys that our ancient hunter made his camp. The terrace of consolidated gravels about a quarter of a mile north forms a protective escarpment some 400 feet high. As the limey-clay stratum is quite impervious to water it seems probable that seeps occurred along the valley floor and under slight­ ly more humid conditions quite a stream might have flowed through the narrow valley. An arroyo has later cut through the valley rim from the south and captured the drainage and cut the water table. The springs thus produced in this gulch and another farther west nO,\\T furnish the only natural "Tater supply in the district. During the time that ancient man occupied the valley and since that time, his camp sites were gradually covered with dark-colored humus-bearing residual soils augmented by silt and gravel wash from the nearby tableland to the north. Along the south rim the contact between this black stratum and the white clayey substratum has been exposed by recent rain and wind action thus disclos.ing the preserved camp debris which led to the discovery. The basal few inches of the black soil layer, from the discovery point for a distance of about 1500 feet westward, has yielded most of the var-ious cultural objects and the associated bones of the animals killed some 10,000 years ago.

8 COLORADO STATE COLLEGE that few of the points, when first constructed, exceeded 2.5 inches in length while the most common widths vary but slightly from .75 of an inch. While the side fluting may be said to be the most distinctive feature of the point, this groove as later explained is not always present. I n the very thin blades it may be short and confined to the basal end, and in others all evidence has been obliterated in the final form. Though the shape of the point varies somewhat, the greatest variation is in the outline, of the base; usually concave, it may range from the deep V-shape, with long, sharp points, to a very thin, squarely built Iorrn. It must be understood that the features enum­ erated are taken from a survey of the Coffin col­ lections secured at the Lindenmeier Site and may not represent general characteristics of the Folsom group. Exploration.-Our early visits to the site had convinced us that the artifacts found were made "on the ground," but after Dr.

Renauds identification, 1 and the knowledge that Folsom man was at this time known only as a mysterious hunter, we definitely under­ took to determine if we had discovered a home of this early American.

'I'he Coffin collections contain several of each of these variations in fluted base types. NORTHERN COLORADO'S FIRST SETTLERS 9

(First) (Second) (Final) Illustrating the sequence of the three major steps in the construction of the Folsom point.

On hands and knees, with broom and rake, we thoroughly inspected the few square rods of the area that seemed most productive as well as adjacent areas. In addition to the fact that all the bladed arti­ facts secured were of the same Folsom type, we found that the ma­ terials used in their construction were essentially different from the materials represented in the artifacts secured in nearby Indian camp sites. The jaspers and chalcedonies used could all be duplicated in the associated fragments. After each rain or wind, a multitude of "chippings" could be secured, many of which were almost micro­ scopic, indicative of the carefully wrought retouching of the edges. A great variety of other cultural objects were found, represent­ ing the same unusual technique, and made from like materials. However, the finding of many of the long, thin, side-flakes proved conclusively that the ancient craftsman who shaped the fluted arti­ fact and its associated objects was at horne here. Construction of the Point.-As our collection contains many partly completed points and others broken during various stages of the manufacturing process, it is possible to visualize the sequence of operations used to produce the point. Jo.~ thin disc of suitable size was first roughly shaped in the desired elliptical form while at the end designed as the base, an axial projection was left, commonly between the two "ears" that were often roughly sha ped during this step. The side flakes were then removed by the application of suf­ ficient pressure to this projection as a fulcrum. 10 COLORADO STATE COLLEGE

Some specimens show that flakes as much as 3 inches long were produced. Many points found were evidently broken during this operation. The careful shaping of the blade and the final retouch­ ing were followed by the grinding of the edge near the base. In the final shaping, the channels of some points were partly or completely obliterated. At present the mechanics of producing the fluting seems to defy satisfactory explanation just as at one time did the process of heat-treatment for hardening copper as used by some of the later North American cultural groups. Not only did our craftsman find it possible to accomplish the phenomenal, but his skill in directing the fluting operation produced a very thin flake that was uniform in thickness and width its entire length. Over 100 specimens of these flakes in our collection testify to his ability, while others show that a second equally thin flake ex­ actly paralleling the first could be produced. Certain inferences seem justified in explaining the purpose of the smoothing of the edge. In mounting the point in the end of a split, or more likely a notched, shaft the wrapping "vas probably green sinew which tightened as it dried. The special construction of the Folsom point would necessitate wrapping over the edge which was smoothed to lessen the likelihood of cutting the binding. Source of Materials:.-Much of the material used was secured near at hand from chalcedony-flint concretions and geodes derived from the gravels referred to under Geological History. About 4 miles northwest of the site a semi-transparent chalcedony is in place in the Ingleside Iimestone and is of the type commonly represented in the artifacts. Two pieces of obsidian found must have COI11e from the Yellowstone region OT from a more remote point. The nearest source from which I have been able to duplicate the oolite used is near Wamsutter, Wyoming, but the abundance of this particular material in some refuse zones suggests a nearer source. The petrified wood used could have been secured from the nearly basal Dakota sandstone while the beautiful red jasper suggests Sunrise, Wyoming, as its source. Local quartzite Irom the Dakota formation was also used. Origin of Artifacts.-Continued study convinced us that the arti­ facts were not derived from scattered surface camp waste like that furnished by the recently occupied Indian camps of the neighbor­ hood but were of sub-surface origin. The position of the finds indi­ cated that their source "vas the horizon at or near the contact of the lowest black soil with the whitish clayey volcanic ash. The presence in this zone of many bone fragments, some of which were charred, suggested the presence of other types of material under-ground. NORTHERN COLORADO'S FIRST SETTLERS 11

After a certain amount of shallow excavating we began to realize what might happen to valuable records under our untrained hands and with the limited time at our disposaL Record of Repo,rt.-As Dr. Renaud and Director J. D. F'iggins of the Colorado Museum of Natural History had become interested in our explorations, the greater part of our collection was loaned to Dr. Renaud for his records after which it "vas displayed at the Mu­ seum. In December, 1931, Judge Coffin supplied Dr. Jesse L. Nus­ baum with photographs of the points collected and a few "reeks later A. Lynn Coffin and I visited him at Santa Fe, New Mexico, to ac­ quaint him with the results of our research up to that. time. As a result of our 10 years' work we were convinced that the project had real merit and it was agreed that I should report the re­ sults of our investigations to Dr. John B. Reeside, Jr., of the United States Geological Survey. This was done under elate of February 26, 1934, and we asked to be referred to some one who might be inter­ ested in cooperating in the furtherance of the project so that our work might become a matter of record. Quoting from his answer: "I have talked to some of the anthropologists here about your find of artifacts. They say that if you have found a F'olsorn cu lture-site, as is so strongly suggested by the number of specimens, you have something very new and very much worth publication. All of the Folsom finds to date have been of a sporadic, incidental nature,-more or less accidental preservation of a few dart points 'where kills have been made, etc. The amount of material you have and its variety indicate m ore than an acci­ dental preservation. Nothing is known about the Folsom people them­ selves except the inferences drawn from the dart points. The anthro­ pologists here would like very illuch to see some photographs of speci­ mens or better still, if it is feasible, some of the specimens themselves. If you can send either photographs or specimens it will be greatly ap­ preciated." My second report to Dr. Reeside included photographs of many of our artifacts, photographs of the terrain and the contact horizon in the arroyo. As one particular area seemed to promise more bone materials than elsewhere, enough digging was done to obtain a ver­ tebra and a few bone fragments which were forwarded with the report. These bones were identified as bison,-species unknown, The land is owned by Wm. Lindenmeier, -Ir., who kindly gave us permission to undertake the sub-surface work. Later a lease was obtained and the site has been officially designated as the Linden­ meier Site. Through the kindness of Dr. Reeside, our reports were trans­ mitted to the Bureau of American Ethnology. As a result. Dr. F~ank